Our Global Scavenger Hunt group arrived in Yangon, Myanmar. Yay! It’s my birthday today and Myanmar is high on my bucket list. What a thrill.
I have always wanted to see the temples of Bagan. The travel photos of hot air balloons floating over an expanse of pointy pagoda tops bathed in the sun’s warm red glow sold me on Bagan long ago. I can’t wait to board a hot air balloon before dawn and see the ancient buildings for myself.
We will spend 4 nights in Myanmar, checked in to the Sule Shangri La Hotel. There are scavenges to do in the capital city of Yangon, as well as in Bagan and other locations.
Flying is the best way to get to the other places. Road travel is dangerous, with an average of 13 fatalities daily.
Flights are relatively cheap. They range around $60 to $120 or so. The best way to book a flight is to go directly to the airport and buy a ticket at the counter. Like a bus. The hitch is that it’s cash only. Sally and I have a stash of dollars but had assumed that most of our expenses on the Global Scavenger Hunt could be covered by credit cards. When we need cash, we go to ATMs. True until now. The airline counter agent quoted the price in U.S. dollars. We bought our plane tickets using dollars.
After an overnight stay, we returned to the airport to buy another set of tickets. This time, after hearing the price in U.S. dollars, we also asked for the quote in Kyats, the local currency. Answer: 188,000. Translation: we need to get Kyats from an ATM.
Sally and I split the tasks. I worked with the counter agent on paperwork while Sally searched for cash in Kyats. She exited airport security to the lobby, where there were three ATMs. All three were empty due to a long holiday weekend. She went downstairs and found a couple more ATMs. The first one gave her cash, but not enough. Finally, she topped off the required amount at another machine. She ran back upstairs through security and joined me just as the counter agent finished inputting our passport information. (Yes, it took a stunning amount of time). Sally plunked the one inch wad of Kyats onto the counter. The airline agent handed us our plane tickets.
It took as long to buy the tickets as it did to ride on the flight.